Packrafing 101

Our 101 course is designed to give you confidence and teach you the basics you need to get out on the water with your mates. We focus on the fundamentals that you’ll need as building blocks as your progress your packrafting.

We select appropriate sections of rivers in and around Queenstown and create a safe and controlled environment to practice and learn. Whilst you will be learning some theory, this will be taught out in the field and you’ll have the opportunity to put the theory into practice straight away.

This course focuses on your personal paddling on the river and should be viewed as an “on-ramp” to our more comprehensive Recreational River Safety (RRS) course. We aim to run the 101 course the weekend before the expedition style RRS course so the they can nicely dovetail together, however if you’d like to organise a course on specific dates, please don’ hesitate to drop us a line.

Course Content

Introduction to all your gear, how to store it and look after it

The anatomy of the river, different river features and hydrology

Basic paddling techniques and strokes

Introduction to hazards

Self rescue and the basics of helping others

This course will include some river swimming so you will need to be a confident swimmer with a reasonable level of fitness. We strongly recommend using as much as your own gear as possible to get used to it but we can provide the gear for you if it’s easier.

Equipment

Included in this price is all the equipment you’ll need, however, we would strongly recommend bringing as much of your own gear as you can in order to familiarise yourself with the kit you are likely to end up using.

Upon completion of this course, you will also qualify for discounted rental gear from Packrafting Queenstown.

This course is designed as an introductory day and can be done on it’s own or in conjunction with our Recreational River safety course (recommended). If you book both courses at the same time, you’ll receive a $150 discount.

By far the best trip

I came to Queenstown for 5 days and did all the bungy jumping, swinging, rafting and jet boats and while they were all great. This was by far the best trip I did. I showed up in the morning to the pickup spot and was greeted by the guide Hugh. He informed me that the other five people on the trip had a last minute change in plans and that it was just going to be us. I was shocked that they would still do the trip with just me but he made no issue with it. It was a great time. We hiked in the Reese valley for about two hours along the river surrounded by mountains, fog and a light rain which only made the river better. We only passed a hand full of people that couldn’t figure out why I was carrying a paddle and no boat. Hugh told them about the inflatable packrafts in our packs and couple you could tell wish they were on our trip. We had a great lunch and then inflated the rafts and kayaked back to the van passing many of the hikers we had crossed earlier. If your looking for a trip that allows you to soak up more of beautiful area and still have a little rafting adventure then this can’t be beat. Hugh was great and easy to talk to with a lot of knowledge of the area. I think he sold me on getting a packraft too.